Emergency services urge beach goers in North Wales to take safety precautions following tragic incidents
Emergency services are urging beach goes in North Wales to take safety precautions following several major rescue operations.
The message from North Wales Police, the RNLI and the Coastguard comes after a man tragically lost his life whilst trying to save his children from the sea in Barmouth last weekend.
A further increase in visitors to the region is expected over the next few days, as people arrive to enjoy the warm weather.
North Wales Police Chief Constable Carl Foulkes has encouraged everyone taking a trip to the seaside to look out for the dangers around them.
In a video published on the force’s Facebook page, he said: “As we’ve seen over the last few weeks, our communities our beaches, and our food spots have become busier and busier across North Wales.
“It’s great to see so many people back, but as we have seen people back we’ve also seen some tragic incidents across the force area, not least over the weekend when we saw a father who tragically passed away, trying to save his children’s lives.
“We would ask everybody just to kind of think about their social responsibility, their own safety, and make sure they’re doing the right thing.
“COVID has not gone away and we would ask if you’re coming to Wales or you live in Wales just to recognise the challenges that face my officers and staff.
“We will continue to support and protect our communities and those visitors and we ask for your help to do the right thing through what is still a very challenging period.”
Stuart Wallace, the RNLI’s lead lifesaving representative for the region, has advised beach goers on the dangers of rip tides following several incidents caused by people getting caught in strong currents.
He said: “We’re hearing a lot about rip currents or rip tides at the moment. What a rip tide is, is water finding its own level of water arrives on the beach and needs to find a way back out to sea.
“It will follow the easiest channel it can and it will run between sand banks or do whatever it is.
“This develops a mass of water that’s moving quite quickly. If you find yourself caught in a riptide or indeed any type of movement or current movements on a beach, please take the following actions.
“Don’t try and fight against it as you won’t be able to. If you can stand up, stand up and wave to the shore.
“If it’s too deep to stand up, follow the RNLI’s floating advice. Lie on your back, extend your arms, extend your legs, control your breathing, calm down and decide the best actions that you can take once you’ve stabilised your position.
“That might be swimming parallel to the beach to get out to the tidal system, or raising your arm, waving it slowly and shouting for assistance.”
If you do see somebody in trouble the water, you are advised not to try and rescue them yourself.
You are instead encouraged to call 999 to ask for the coastguard and seek their assistance.
Andrew Collis, a station officer with the Llandudno Coastguard, said: “It’s been one of the busiest Julys on record with over 20 call outs, ranging from people at sea, falling off cliffs and assisting the Welsh Ambulance Service.
“Why we’re here today is try and get home that people need to start planning better before they come to the beach.”
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